1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image forming apparatus and an ink solidifying method for use with an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an ink solidifying method in which a latent image is created on a photosensitive medium, the latent image is developed by application to the photosensitive medium, of an ink comprised of a toner dispersed in a liquid solvent, the solvent is removed to solidify the ink, and the developed image is then transferred to The image recording medium such as paper and fixed to provide a permanent image.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, in one known type of apparatus, a latent image is created by scanning a photoconductive medium such as a belt or drum with a laser beam or the like modulated in accordance with image data. The latent image is developed using a liquid ink of the type described above. The ink is then dried by removing the solvent, and the developed image is transferred to The image receiving medium such as paper. This is often done with an intermediate transfer medium such as a transfer roller using heat and pressure. The transfer medium may be formed of a material selected to have a greater affinity for the dried toner particles than the photoconductive medium, but a lower affinity for the toner particles than the image receiving medium.
One way the solvent is often removed is first to squeeze as much as possible off the surface of the photoconductive medium with a roller, and then to remove the residue using a drying unit constructed with an absorbing roller for absorbing the solvent and a drying roller for evaporating the solvent absorbed by the absorbing roller by heat.
However, the drying unit used in the conventional image forming apparatus is constructed of a large number of parts and is quite costly.
Furthermore, since the absorbing roller is directly contacted with the drying roller, the ink may deposit on the drying roller to degrade performance of the absorbing roller and the drying roller.
In order to solve the foregoing problems, measures, such as providing a cleaning mechanism for the roller, have been considered. However, such measure increase the number of parts and the cost.